


Harvey’s home for foster creatures

by Yui_Kuromori



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Found Family, Kidfic, M/M, Slow Burn, Whimsical
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:41:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24015367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yui_Kuromori/pseuds/Yui_Kuromori
Summary: In which Harvey Kinkle falls in love with a warlock, learns a bunch of new things about his family, screams a lot, helps to stop yet another apocalypse and adopts a bunch of supernatural creatures.Just, you know, not necessarily in that order
Relationships: Harvey Kinkle/Nicholas Scratch
Comments: 69
Kudos: 202





	1. Sarah

His Dad left him with an empty house and a new phone.

“Job’s better on the big city son” he had grumbled between puffs of smoke, the cigarette hanging from his lips. He had shaved his face clean, and was standing in front of a loaded pick up truck.

A job offering had popped up, and Harvey was left alone for his last year of high school, right before summer break. He had cleaned his and Tommy’s room, and left, with the legal guarantee that money would be sent his way every month.

The house felt empty and way too silent now. As he awkwardly moved his things to the master bedroom, changed the sheets on the double bed that for years had been used by only one person, and peeled off his posters from his old bedroom.

Everything was fine until he heard screaming.

Now, if Harvey lived anywhere else, he would have just ignored it. Greendale was weird, and from the nights he had spent in Theo’s guest room, odd screams were nothing new in more populated areas of the town.

His house, however, was located on the very edge of the town, closer to the mines, and almost on the Sweetwater river’s riverside, so other than crickets and frogs, there’s usually no noise.

So he loads a shotgun, aims it, and leaves the house.

He hears it again, the scream, high and shrill and definitely female. He hurries his steps, trying to keep himself as silent as possible.

“ I swear she came this way”

He hears a gruff voice say, and the familiar clicking sound of a gun’s safety being put off. He searches around the area the voice came from, and suddenly, his eyes halt at a curled up form hidden almost inside a hollow of a tree.

It’s a little girl, no older than 13 years old. He can’t see much in the dark, but he can recognize the fear in her big eyes.

“ Hey!”

He calls out, and hears footsteps coming his way. He moves his body in a way that will best conceal her little body, and puts on his best worried look. A pair of large men barge into his field of vision.

“ I heard you shouting near my house. You lost your daughter?”

He asks, and the man closer to him nods. He’s lying. Harvey had spent too much time near Sabrina to let a lousy liar get through him. But he keeps the worried look on his face.

“ I saw her going towards the city. If you follow this trail, you should be able to reach her.”

The man thanks him in short, hurried words, and they leave quickly towards where Harvey had pointed. He waits, until he can no longer hear their footsteps and he’s sure they’re gone, before he moves and allows himself to look at the girl.

“Hey”

He whispers, and she fixes her gaze on him. She looks scared, and suspicious.

“ Where are your parents?”

She just shakes her head no, and Harvey’s heart tightens a bit. She shrinks her body under his gaze, and adverts her eyes from his.

"Do you have anywhere to go?"

She shakes her head again. And Harvey's stomach drops. This tiny girl, all alone, being chased. It's certainly not the weirdest thing in Greendale, but it's still wrong.

"Come on then."

He offers his hand, and tries to seem as harmless as possible. She eyes him, in fearful suspicion, and Harvey holds his breath. He feels like he's trying to lure out a frightened animal. She trembles, and reaches out to him.

Her hand grasps him, and her fingers feel small and frail. He gently coaxes her out of her hiding place, and guides her to the path to his home.

"What's your name?"

He asks gently, and she lifts her eyes, now that they are reaching the more illuminated area of his house, he can see her features better.

“I'm Sarah."

“I'm Harvey."

He offers. She nods a bit forcefully. Wide eyes still filled with suspicion, and a bit panicked.

They reach his home, and enter in rushed quiet steps. Now that they are in the yellowish warm light of his living room, he can see her small face. Her eyes are an odd shade of green, and freckles are splattered all over her face. Her nose seems to pointy, and too upwards to be normal. Her red hair tucked behind pointy ears.

“You..."

He begins to say, and she stumbles back, eyes wide with fear, quickly, he raises his hands, palms turned to her, as if in surrender and stammered while getting a bit closer to her.

“No, no! It’s okay, i won’t do anything. I just want to know what you are!”

Her green eyes scan him quickly, franticly, her small body tight like a cornered animal. Harvey forced his stance to relax a bit, to make himself look less threatening, slowly, she relaxed a bit as well, her hunched posture going back to being straight.

“I’m a leprechaun. They were hunting me because they wanted me to grant them wishes.”

He nods slowly, afraid that a sudden movement would scare her away.

“Do you have anyone to come pick you up?”

Her face darkens, and her eyes water a bit, she shakes her head no, suddenly looking much younger and more vulnerable than she did before. Harvey finally realizes how young she is, tiny, almost frail, his gut clenches.

“ Do you have anywhere to go?”

She shakes her head, and Harvey’s stomach sinks. No parents, no family, no home. He thinks about himself, cold and alone after Tommy’s funeral, about what would have happened to him without his friends. His hands clench and he sets his jaw.

“You can stay here, if you want.”

She looks up at him, eyes wide, and twists her small hands, she looks a bit suspicious, but the looks of sheer determination and protectiveness in his face must convince her that he means well, because she swallows and nods shyly.

“Are you sure?”

She asks gently and he nods with even more conviction. Her body relaxes and her eyes go from suspicious to grateful. A her lips curl into a small smile.

“You hungry?”

He questions, snapping back into a more excited tone, and she nods again. They’ll have to work on communication, he’s sure of it, but for now, he’ll settle with her small nods and smiles.

“Come on then”

He leads her upstairs and into his room, gesturing for her to sit on the bed while he rummages through his closet, humming quietly and scratching na itch on his hip. He presents her with a t-shirt so big, it would look like a dress on her, and a pair of underwear he had bought a few weeks ago and never used.

“ The bathroom is the door at the end of the hall, there’s a cabinet just outside this room. Get a towel, take a shower. I’ll get some food for us.”

She takes the clothes and offers him a grateful smile, and ushers off the room. He waits for a few seconds, and gets back downstairs. Puts one of his mom’s old records to play, he remembers finding the music weird when he was young, haunting and a bit boring. Nowadays it just brings him comfort.

He boils hazelnut milk and vegetables, blends them together in a thick soup that usually would last him a few days worth of meals, he hums gently and grumbles in annoyance at the itch on his hip. Bug bites.

He thinks that they were offering a job at the library. He was wanting to get a summer job anyways, now, with a young girl to feed and care for, he was sure to try and get it.

“Thanks for the clothes.”

He turns around and sees her standing at the kitchen door, curly hair flattened down and wet, and the t-shirt almost reaching to her knees.

“ I’ve got some money saved up. We’ll get you some new ones tomorrow, ok?”

She nods. Her previously waxy skin had regained some color, and she eyes the record player with confused eyes. Harvey chuckles, she looks like Tommy had when he had heard a bit of it. The records had been a his and his mom’s thing. No one else had ever heard them.

It felt kinda nice to share it with someone.

They eat in silence, and Harvey washes the dishes as soon as they are done, insisting that Sarah didn’t have to do it just yet. He offers her a place on the couch, and hands her the remote.

“I’ll just get your room ready for you, ok?”

To his surprise, she actually lets out a pretty comfortable smile.

“Ok, thanks Harvey.”

His heart warms as as he goes back upstairs.

The house had always been big, but he never realized how big it was until he was living on it alone. There’s a hallway, a bathroom on the end of it. On the left, the doors to his room and Tommy’s, the towel and sheet cabinet between them, on the other side, his father’s and the guest rooms.

He walks in the guest room, opens the window and changes the sheets. He had cleaned it during a bored night in just a few days ago, so he doesn’t bother dusting it or anything.

“Sarah! Come sleep!”

He hears her small steps up the stairs and sees her red hair bouncing, still moist, as she walks up.

“ Sit down, we have to get you dry.”

She does, and he gets the hair drier from the bathroom (because while he didn’t really use it much, it was good to have on winter) and came back, gently drying her red hair.

“Why are you doing this? Why did you take me in?”

She asks, and his eyes widen. Why did he take her in? He could have called Sabrina, or Roz, or hell, even the police, but the thought of giving the little girl away makes him sick to his stomach.

He looks at her into the eyes, face serious.

“Because it felt natural to me.”

She raises her eyebrows in confusion, but seems to be satisfied with his answer.

After that, he leaves her, and falls into na uneasy sleep.

On the next morning, he finds a pot of gold inside the bathtub.

“Uhhhh...Sarah?”

She had been eating sugary cereal in the kitchen and after a few seconds, her head pops through the door into the bathroom.

“What’s this about?”

“Oh!”

She looks down with na embarrassed expression.

“ You can make a wish now.”

His eyebrows raise in surprise.

“I don’t want to burden you with money and stuff, so now, since you found my pot of gold, you can make a wish.”

He rests his hands on her shoulders.

“I don’t wanna take advantage of you. Not like those guys were trying to.”

She shakes her head face determined.

“You’re not! You Took me in and helped me, so I’m gonna help you.”

She looks up at him, green eyes burning, and Harvey doesn’t have the stomach to deny her at this moment.

“OK Sarah. I wish that we always have enough money to support this household.”

Nothing really seems to happen, but Sarah’s smile widens in relief, and she goes back to the kitchen to finish her now soggy cereal.

Later, while scratching his hip, Harvey checks his bank account and chokes wile drinking his coffee. Sarah laughs for a good five minutes at his face.

He swiftly avoids Roz’s and Sabrina’s texts, and tells them he’s cleaning up Tommy’s room, knowing that they would leave him alone. He feels bad, about lying to them, but something deep in his gut tells him that he can’t let them know about Sarah.

They strike a department store and buy cheap clothes and hygiene products, strawberry hair ties, colorful dresses, jeans and a pair of sneakers. A pair of flip flops and bubblegum bubble bath.

“Can I have that?”

She asks shyly, and points towards a cook book. Harvey’s glad to get it for her. Her smile after it is so bright, he almost tears up a bit.

“My little cousin came to live with me. Her parents work a lot you know? Lost all her luggage on her flight here, poor thing.”

He tells the cashier after receiving a suspicious look. Sarah keeps smiling happily so the woman, convinced, smiles back.

They visit the paint store next, and she chooses a earthy sap green.

When she’s not scared, Sarah is actually a pretty happy kid. A bit harsh and sarcastic, but sweet. She and Harvey spend the rest of the day painting her room, flicking paint at each other and laughing. She tells him she likes to bake, her favorite animals are owls, and when she was young she always wanted to be like Hermione Granger.

She doesn’t say a word about her parents, Harvey doesn’t push her.

They paint a starry sky on the ceiling in navy blue and gold. It looks so good he decides that they’ll do it in the living room as well.

They eat leftover soup, and sit on the porch watching the sunset.

“We could have a garden!”

She tells him enthusiastically, and Harvey smiles at the idea, his mom used to have a garden on their backyard, but they let it wither after she died. Maybe he could regrow it with the little girl sitting next to him.

He hums along the record playing on the background and ushers Sarah inside. It’s only the beginning of summer, and the nights are still cold.

He scratches his hip absently as he helps Sarah put her hair up to shower without wetting it, the light on the bathroom had been broken and they had showered on the dark for two days now, until he fixed it on that afternoon. He gets her bed ready for her to sleep and closes the wooden frames of her window. He should get one of those bug plug thingies, to fight the war he was sure they would have against the mosquitoes.

Afterwards, he tucks Sarah into her bed, and she looks up dreamily at her new painted ceiling.

“Good night Sarah. Have sweet dreams.”

She snuggles into her covers, eyelids dropping and whispers sleepily.

“Thanks Mhysa.”

It surprises him a bit, but he shrugs it off as a leprechaun thing.

He passes out on his bed without giving it a second thought.

The next morning, he gets up and hears Sarah attacking the kitchen downstairs. He laughs, and drags himself to the bathroom. His hip still itches, and he annoyedly pulls the waistband of his pajama pants down to check on it.

He gasps in surprise.

Sitting there, on his left hipbone is a small symbol. Black and about the size of a quarter, of a circle with a dot in the middle of it. Panic rises in his chest and he feels his gut sink.

He doesn’t have the time to think too much about it thought, because suddenly, Sarah’s voice reaches him in a still sound.

“HARVEY!”

He rushes down the stairs, panic and adrenaline pumping through his body. Grabbing a shotgun from the umbrella holder, he aims it as he bursts through the back door into their yard.

He’s sure he would actually kill anyone or anything that tried to hurt Sarah.

But he comes to a halt when he sees her standing on the porch, green eyes wide in surprise and hair mussed from sleep.

Laying shirtless and belly down, on the ground of their backyard, is a very drunk, and very passed out Nicholas Scratch.


	2. Nicholas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for all the love on this story! it warms my heart that you liked this! i've been planning this one for a while now, so i'm glad you like it!
> 
> I'm so sorry for the time it took for me to update! college has bee fucking me up! art school is not as easy as they want you to believe :D
> 
> anyways, I hope you like the chapter!

Harvey’s dad had started drinking when he was eight years old, soon after his mother died, and hadn’t stopped until Sabrina spelled him into sobriety.

He never thought he would be thankful for it, until he was holding Nicholas Scratch’s bare shoulders as he puked his guts out in his toilet.

“You got it out of your system?”

He asks the dark haired teen, Nick mumbles something, eyes still closed, and Harvey’s not sure he’s fully conscious.

“Sarah, go to the kitchen. In the cabinet over the counter, grab me a jar with “stomach” written on it.”

She nods from he place on the bathroom door, and rushes downstairs.

“C’mon Scratch, up you go.”

He hooked his arms under the man’s armpits and lifted him up, laying him against the wall next to the toilet. With a grunt, he pulls the dark dirtied jeans out.

“You so owe me for this man.”

He grumbled, and turned on the water, making sure it was hot enough to make it steam.

“This one?”

He looked back at the door, to the jar Sarah was holding.

He remembers a long time ago, when Tommy had gotten a stomach bug and his mom, a nurse, had taught him how to make that recipe. Mint, ginger and dried oranges.

“Yeah, thanks honey.”

He tries not to think much about the pet name, and lays Nick down in the hot water, sprinkling the blend and sighing as the scent of comfort fills the bathroom.

“How long does he have to stay there?”

He hums and arranges the other’s body until his back is resting on the edge of the tub.

“Until the water cools, just to make sure his nausea will stop.”

He tells Sarah, and flushes the toilet with a grimace. Washes his hands, and looks once again at the little girl.

“How old are you again?”

He asks, because he doesn’t want to scar a child with the vision of an alcohol poisoned warlock.

“Ten.”

He swallows, and remembers how small she had looked the night a few days ago. She’s about the age he thought she was.

“Just, just go downstairs and finish your breakfast yeah?”

She twists her hands nervously.

“Can i try making something? I used to be in the kitchen a lot.”

He hums pensively for a bit, and nods.

“But be careful ok? Scream if anything happens.”

She squeals happily and almost bounces her way out of the bathroom, leaving him alone with a warlock in his bathtub. He sighs and closes the door, before lowering his waistband and inspecting the mark resting on his left hipbone again. The clean black line of the circle with a dot on it.

He considers telling Sabrina. Or Roz. Hell, even Theo, because Theo would tell Robin and Robin knew his shit. But telling them would mean being kept under watch, that would mean telling them about Sarah.

Then he remembers her terrified face on the wood and her tense shoulders on the store and comes to the chilling realization that he doesn’t trust anyone of them with her.

He tries to text Roz, but the nervous feeling on his gut becomes too much to bear. He finds himself unable to do it. Maybe, he should talk to Sarah about it. She knew about the Spellmans and Roz and the pagans. He had told her while painting stars in the living room’s ceiling the night before. It had been easy, to open up to her.

She had been running away, and telling anyone her location, kind of felt like a betrayal.

But the anxiety on telling other people about the leprechaun eating Lucky charms (oh the irony) on his kitchen felt more than that. Felt instinctual in a way.

He snaps off his musings when Nick lets out a pained groan in the bathtub. He quickly texts his friends, telling them he’s taking a few days to himself, they are used to it, he usually does it when he’s really focused on finishing a painting, and checks on him.

He’s still out cold, and doesn’t seem to be waking up anytime soon, the water on the tub went from steaming hot to lukewarm, and Harvey rushes out of the bathroom, grabs a bundle of clothes that Sarah had left on top of the cabinet in the hallway, and a towel, and goes back to drag the warlock out of the water.

He awkwardly dries him up, and hurriedly, while looking as little as possible, takes off his wet underwear and dresses him in a loose pair of cotton pants and a T-shirt that must have belonged to Tommy, because it’s too big on both him and Nick. Then, he drags him to the room next to his, and tucks him in the bed.

Really, Scratch is no longer allowed to give him shit for anything, ever again.

He pads his way downstairs, barefoot and tired, and sighs in appreciation at the smell of a freshly baked apple pie. Sarah’s sitting on the kitchen counter, staring at him expectantly.

“Is he going to be okay?”

He nods wordlessly and plops down on a chair, grabbing a slice of the pie cooling on the already set table. Sarah watches nervously as he eats a bit of it, and relaxes when his face splits in a huge grin.

“This is amazing Sarah! I didn’t know you were so good at this!”

He ruffles her hair and she offers him a bashful smile. He winces, as his fingers get caught in the knots of the matted waves of her red hair.

“You know what?”

He asks, as he gets up, and grabs a hairbrush from the coffee table on the loving room.

“You’re in charge of desert. Like, forever.”

She gasps, eyes twinkling, and a smile breaks out her face.

The implication that he’s not gonna leave her stays heavy in the air.

He walks behind her, pulls her by the shoulders until she’s better positioned on the counter, and gets to work on her hair. The counter faces the living room, and his back is turned to the kitchen, so he can keep an eye on the stairs.

It takes a while, like, a long while, and he wonders when was the last time she has actually settled long enough to care for her hair a bit. He ignores the tightness in his chest as he detangles the red locks, and chatters with her.

She had found his Harry Potter books, and was halfway through the first one. She found it funny, yet endearing, and he wonders if the Spellmans had ever read it.

He sets the hairbrush down when he hears Nick’s hurried footsteps.

The warlock bursts into the living room, eyes panicked and a bit wild. Harvey walks around the counter, faster than he ever thought he could, and puts himself between him and Sarah.

“Scratch, hey, hey!”

Nick’s dark eyes focus on him, and he looks a bit less frantic. His shoulders are still tense, and he looks like a beast ready to pounce at any second.

“Just calm down man, it’s me!”

He raises his hands and shows him his palms, in a placating gesture, just like he did to Sarah. Her small hands grip his shoulders, and he knows at that moment that he would actually kill Nick, if he tried to attack her.

The man’s shoulders lowers, and he relaxes his body, his eyes finally looking clear, he looks at Harvey, and then at Sarah, and his eyebrows raise in confusion.

“Want some apple pie?”

He asks meekly, because he knows, just like he knows he would die protecting Sarah and that he, for some reason, doesn’t trust his friends around the little girl, that he would not be able to lie to Nick about her.

For some strange reason, he trusts Nick enough to let him into his home.

“Okay.”

He rasps out quietly, and moves slowly towards them. He raises his hands and mirrors Harvey’s position, and Sarah’s hands fall from his shoulders. He walks around the counter, without turning his back to Nick, and helps her down so she can sit with them on the table.

He puts a slice of pie on his used plate, and watches as Nick sits down in front of him.

“What am I doing here?”

He asks nervously, and Harvey pushes the filled plate to him. He takes Sarah’s clean utensils as well, and the warlock accepts it, taking a bite of food and humming in appreciation.

“We found you passed out and drunk on our backyard. You puked a lot, so I cleaned you up and let you crash here for a bit.”

Nick’s shoulders tense once again.

“Did you tell Sabrina?”

Harvey blinks, because, no, he didn’t even think about calling her, the same way he didn’t call her the night he met Sarah.

“Nah, I figured you would want to have your moment in private.”

Nick sighs in relief, but then, eyes Sarah.

“And who’s the kid?”

He shifts his gaze, and gives Sarah an inquisitive look, asking her permission. She bites her lip, but nods, after a few tense seconds.

“This is Sarah. She’s a leprechaun. She was being chased by hunters and now she’s staying with me.”

Nick chokes, sputters, and then looks at him incredulous.

“So you just took her in?”

Harvey sets his jaw, sits a bit straighter.

“So I just took her in.”

Nick stares at him a bit longer, and, to his surprise, chuckles while shaking his head.

“You’re a bit crazy, huh farm boy?”

He laughs too, in relief.

“I mean, I am friends with Sabrina.”

Nick huffs, and puts another piece of pie in his mouth. He looks different, in the sunlight coming through the window over the sink. Harvey’s used to seeing him wearing dark, stylish and stiff looking clothes, with his hair perfectly sculpted in styling wax. But there he is, wearing a faded T-shirt and Harvey’s pair of soft cotton pants, the curls of his hair looking softer and frizzy. He looks younger somehow.

“Why were you drunk in my backyard?”

Sarah pulls her Harry Potter book from under her chair, and Nick swallows his pie. Harvey stares at him and he stares back, but something in him seems to crumble.

“I can’t okay?”

He rubs his hands against his face.

“I just can’t stay all the time in the academy, I just, I can’t.”

He seems a bit breathe less now.

“Everywhere I look, it just reminds me of who i used to be, before hell, before him. I feel like I’m gonna suffocate there.”

His head drops.

“I just don’t have anywhere to go.”

He keeps looking at Nick, but somehow, it seems to be the first time he actually sees him. There are dark circles under his eyes, and his skin looks dull. He looks like he lost a few pounds and there’s a haunted air about him.

“We have an extra room!”

He blurts out, and both Sarah and Nick whip their heads to stare at him in shock.

“Two actually.”

He says, and the conviction is already settling on his chest, Sarah’s face begins to open in a smile at the same time that Nick’s face contorts in anger.

“I don’t need your pity!”

He growls, and Harvey puts an arm in front of Sarah, as if to shield her.

“It’s not about pity!”

He promises, and the warlock throws his hands up in exasperation.

“So you’re doing it for Sabrina then?”

Harvey clenches his jaw and he forces himself to appear less angry than he is.

“This isn’t about her either! She doesn’t even Know about Sarah! And she wont know for a really long time!”

Nick takes a step back, eyes wide and calculating.

“I just…”

Harvey presses his lips together, looks at his own bare feet. Sarah immediately moves to hold the hem of his t-shirt in comfort.

“I know what it’s like okay?”

Nick scoffs, and Harvey squares his shoulders.

“I know what is like to be scared and alone.”

Nick looks at him, jaw set, but something in his eyes soften. His gaze travels from Harvey to Sarah, where she still holds onto him. There’s something to his expression that Harvey can’t quite read.

“Thanks for the pie.”

He says, and walks out of the house/

Harvey winces when the front door closes. He would never force Nick to stay, but he can’t quite ignore the disappointment rising in his chest. It doesn’t make sense, not really, he didn’t even like Nick all that much, but for some reason, he had wanted him to stay.

The same way he knew he wanted Sarah to stay.

“Want to paint the living room ceiling today?”

She eyes him and tightens her hold in his T-shirt, before smiling and nodding.

So they do. Harvey pushes the furniture out of the way and Sarah carefully places old newspapers on the floor. Now that’s only him and her, Harvey feels comfortable enough to play one of his mom’s records and hums along the music while they paint. Sarah still looks at him oddly when he does that, and he wonders if the music bothers her that much.

They keep at it for a large portion of the afternoon, and when they finally clean up the living room and open the windows to let the smell of fresh paint out, the sun is starting to lower in the sky.

“Oh shoot. You haven’t eaten all day!”

He exclaims, and inwardly congratulates himself on his ability not to curse. Sarah raises an eyebrow.

“You haven’t either.”

He narrows his eyes playfully and crosses his arms.

“Yeah, but I’m not a kid. If you don’t eat you’ll stay short forever!”

She sputters and he laughs and guides her back to the kitchen.

“What about some stew?”

He asks and she nods in agreement. They spend the next hour cooking, as Sarah happily tells him about Harry Potter’s adventures.

“Snape is really mean!”

She exclaims, and Harvey, with the most serious face he can muster, agrees. It’s important, he thinks, that Sarah understands that Snape was an abusive asshole, and that he was not, no matter how much J.K. Rowling defended him, a good man.

Their very serious conversation about quidditch is interrupted by a knock on the door.

Harvey feels the blood rush out of his face, and Sarah’s eyes widen. Maybe it’s Sabrina, or Roz checking on him. He helps Sarah out of the chair she was using as a stool and rushes her upstairs, to hide in her room.

His heart beats fast as he, with one last glance to the stairs, opens the front door.

“Is that extra room still vacant?”

Nicholas Scratch asks, from where he stands, with three suitcases and two trunks on Harvey’s porch.

He lets out a relieved breath.

“Yeah! Yeah, c’mon in.”

He breathes out, and steps aside, let’s Nick in.

“It’s upstairs.”

He says, and awkwardly guides the warlock to the hallway where the room’s are. He takes him to Tommy’s old room, right next to the room that belonged to his dad, where he sleeps.

“We’ll have to share a bathroom.”

He warns him, and Nick lets out a small huff.

“Thanks farm boy.”

He tells him, and even with the slight annoyance that surges with the nickname, Harvey can sense the honest gratitude in his words.

He nods, and leaves.

“Is Nick gonna live with us now?”

Sarah asks, as she pokes her head out of her room. He nods and smiles, and her face lights up.

“That’s a good thing! Congratulations!”

He just nods and accepts the hug she gives him. Confusion stirring on his brain, he brushes it off as a leprechaun thing, and tightens his arms around her.

“So what about we finish making dinner?”

Turns out. Nick is a pretty okay roommate.

On the first night he stays, he insists on doing the dishes, and Harvey tells him he’s got it. They bicker a bit before doing it together, awkwardly trying not to stumble into each other on each other.

On the nest morning, Harvey finds their shared bathroom filled with creams and lotions, along with bottles and pots of hair products. It takes him a minute to locate his toothbrush in the middle of all the mess, but the way Sara’s eyes sparkle at the flasks has his chest warm. Seriously though, what did Nick use all those things for?

“Do you want to paint your walls?”

He asks the warlock after they eat fruit salads for breakfast. Eyeing the dull beige Tommy had kept his room.

“Not yet.”

Nick answers almost shyly, and Harvey only nods.

“A desk and a shelve would be nice thought.”

And that’s how they, after a quick research on the newspaper for announcements, drive their way to a small garage sale , Nick grumbling the whole way that teleportation would have been much better. Harvey, with a raised brow tells him that there’s no way he’s teleporting Sarah anywhere soon, and the girl lets out an indignant huff on the backseat.

“Can you at least drive right?”

Nick tells him, and Harvey grits his teeth.

“What’s wrong with the way I drive?”

Nick rolls his eyes.

“You’re going at a snail’s pace! It looks like you only got your license!”

He huffs in annoyance.

“Well I’m sorry mister Fast and Furious, but I’m not speeding over the limit.”

“Mortals and their stupid rules.”

Sarah giggles in the backseat.

The sale is nice, and away enough that they won’t be recognized.

Nick had only raised an eyebrow at Harvey’s need to keep Sarah a secret, and quietly askes that he did the same to him. Harvey had no intention of telling anyone about his new roommates, and only nodded in agreement.

Nick get’s a nice wooden bookshelf and a small writing desk. Conveniently teleporting them back to the house.

“They are your furniture man.”

Harvey tells him and shakes his head mostly to spite him.

They stop at the gardening store in Riverdale on their way back. Get all the tools they need to clean up the backyard. Sarah happily grabs them all bright pink gloves that burn Harvey’s eyes, but he doesn’t have the heart to deny her.

Nick disappears for a few minutes and returns with bags of seeds and shady looking plants.

Harvey just sighs and makes him promise to be careful with Sarah.

When they get back home, they dump it all in the living room, and Harvey quickly claims the bathroom.

While he showers off the dust and sweat, he thumbs at the mark on his hip.

He’ll ask Nick about it tomorrow.

“What are you even doing with your coffee?”

He asks the warlock, barely keeping the disgust away from his voice, as he watches him pour a ridiculous amount of milk and sugar on the drink.

“I’m making it delicious farm boy, that’s what I’m doing.”

He frowns.

“That should be illegal.”

Nick rolls his eyes.

“Not all of us can be depressing artists like you and drink it black. I need my caffeine to be sweet.”

Harvey huffs, and Sarah snickers behind a mouthful of pancakes. She’s wearing a sunhat, and her cheeks are white with sunscreen.

They eat, bicker, and do the dishes, a little less clumsily than the first few times. Then, when everything is somewhat clean, they go to the backyard.

“You’re doing it wrong!”

Nick tells him as he pulls another handful of weeds from the ground, and he rolls his eyes so hard, they almost hurt.

“Sarah! Sweetie! Don’t touch Nick’s plants!”

He ignores the warlock, and pulls the little girl away from one of the plants in a small vase close to the backdoor.

They spend a few hours working, before stopping to drink too sweet lemonade, to Nick and Sarah’s delight, and eat omelets for lunch. Nick gently re-applies Sarah’s sunscreens, and bitches a bit more about Harvey’s bad gardening skills.

They go back to clearing the backyard. Pulling weeds and fluffing up the earth. The mark on his hip itches.

“Hey Nick?”

The warlock only grunts in response. Annoyance rises in Harvey’s chest, mixed with something he can’t quite define.

“Can I ask you something?”

Nick rolls his eyes, and nods, lifting his gaze to meet Harvey’s eyes.

He opens his mouth, but the words don’t come out when he sees Nick’s eyes widen in a mixture of surprise and fear. Sarah lets out a scream.

Claws wrap around his ankles, and pull him deep into the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! please comment! it makes my day and your criticism, theories and opinions mean everything to me!
> 
> love. Yui.


	3. Noite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for all the love you have been giving this story! it really warms my heart. every single comment and kudo make my day!
> 
> enjoy this chapter!
> 
> i spent the whole night writing in a soda induced frenzy.

When he opens his eyes, his vision is a bit blurred. He’s pretty sure he hit his head when he first fell. There’s dirt under his fingernails, from clawing at the ground and his fingertips throb in pain. The air smells like rotting wood, and Harvey has to breathe deeply once. Twice, before having the guts to sit up.

The skin on his stomach burns unpleasantly, and he knows it’s probably rubbed raw and scratched. Some time must have passed since the thing got to him, because the sky is slowly but surely turning orange and lilac. He’s on a clearing, and when he drags his gaze across the woods, he spots the creature.

It’s a hulking mass of twisted shadows, so big he could have mistaken it for a bear. Its head could have been a deer skull, bone white and hollow eyed, but the sharp teeth tell him otherwise. From the bottom of its eye sockets, there’s light, small, flickering, like fireflies, burning gold.

It reaches out a twisted arm, its skin looking like wood. Clawing on the soft soil, it approaches Harvey too quickly for him to run away. A small part of him feels somewhat compelled to the creature, as it hunches its massive body over his.

It opens its mouth, sharp teeth far too close to his face for comfort, and its breath smells like blood. Harveys stomach churns, and his heart starts beating a bit faster. He feels like he should say something, but he’s not exactly sure what.

It whimpers, lowering its bony head until it’s almost resting is his lap. Harvey lets out a sigh, and a small burst of affection warms his chest. It whimpers once again, a pained sound, and Harvey raises his eyebrows in confusion.

It turns it’s body a bit, and a sharp smell of rust rises and thickens the air. Harvey’s eyes widen as he sees the wound, deep, ugly, jagged, with a wicked blade still stuck in it, gushing out dark blood.

It suddenly dawns on him that the creature had dragged him into the woods in a desperate request for help.

He takes in a shuddery breath and stands up in shaky legs, the creature lets out a gurgled growl, but doesn’t seem anywhere as intimidating as it first had. Harvey smiles nervously, placatingly, and pulls at the thing’s wooden arms.

“I can’t help you here.”

He says, looking seriously at the creature’s hollow eyes. It whimpers in acknowledgement.

“But I can help you if you come home with me.”

He continues in a gentle tone. The creature chirps and cocks its head. Its grip on Harvey’s forearms tightening slightly. A small rush of cold fear runs down his spine, and he forces himself to keep his breathing even.

“Come on.”

He coaxes the creature, and slowly, they both stand up. The creature’s hunched form reaching up to his chin.

“Come on.”

He urges, and gently, not to startle It, he begins to guide It back to the trail he knows will take him home.

“Farmboy!”

Nick’s voice suddenly breaks the tentative silence, and the Thing bristles, alarmed. Harvey’s entire body tenses and he bares his teeth a bit, until he recognizes the warlock’s broad shoulders and dark hair emerging from in between the woods.

His gaze meets Nicks, and he’s not entirely sure what he looks like, but it’s enough for Nick to assume the same hunched stature that he’s in, lifting his hands in surrender. His eyes go from between Harvey and the creature. Harvey raises his eyebrows, and nick presses his lips together.

“Is it friendly?”

Nick chooses to ask, and Harvey almost lets out a sigh of relief at his easy acceptance, refraining from it only not to give Nick the satisfaction.

“I think so. It’s injured. I think he wanted my help.”

He answers truthfully, and Nick nods, looking a bit stunned. Slowly, with his hands still raised, looking at the creature in the eyes, he approaches them. The thing is still tense, but significantly more relaxed than a few seconds prior, and it’s watching Nick intently as he approaches, as if analyzing if he’s friend or foe.

“Let me help you carry it.”

He offers in a tone that leaves no room for denial. Harvey suppresses a smile and rolls his eyes out of habit, and transfers one of the Thing’s arms to Nick, relieving a bit from the weight from his shoulders.

The creature finally seems to reach a decision on Nick, and allows itself to be moved, resting against Nick just as much as It’s resting against Harvey.

Slowly, painstakingly so, they make their way back to the house.

“Where’s Sarah?!”

Harvey asks suddenly, his eyes going quickly to Nick.

“Relax. She’s safe and sound inside your newly warded house.”

He answers, somehow annoyedly and placatingly.

“Warded?”

He asks curiously and Nick nods, looking pleased with himself.

“No one gets in or out without us knowing. That’s why it took me so long to come save your ass.”

He flushes in gratefulness, at the thoughtfulness that Nick had to keep Sarah safe. He raises a sarcastic eyebrow to cover it up,

“In case you haven’t noticed, I didn’t need you to save me.”

He says and Nick smirks.

“No, but without me, you would be carrying this big guy back to the house all by yourself.”

Harvey shudders at the notion and Nicks smirk turns victorious. He rolls his eyes.

“Whatever.”

They bicker all the way to the house, and the creature whines and grumbles as they walk. The sky above them slowly turning from lilac to dark blue. By the time they get home, the lights are turned on, bleeding out in a buttery yellow into the night.

“Harvey! Nick!”

Sarah bursts out from the back door, completely ignoring the creature and throwing herself against them. Both him and Nick raise their free arms to hold her and she seems completely unbothered top be face to face with the thing.

“Hey, hey! Sarah, we’re okay!”

She lifts her head to look at him, big green eyes wet. Harvey’s heart twists painfully in his chest, and with a quick glance and a nod from Nick, he transfers the creature to the warlock and lifts Sarah’s small body up into his lap.

“We are not leaving you.”

He reassures her, pressing his nose on top of her head. The scent of bubblegum shampoo filling his lungs. Nick gently helps the creature into the porch, thankfully away from Harvey’s carpets.

“We just found this guy in the wood. I think It needs some help.”

Nick offers her gently, and she turns to inspect the creature. Her eyes go back to Harvey’s and she stares at him for a few seconds before nodding approvingly. She wiggles a little until she lets her go and, to his unexpected relief, she moves to stand a few steps behind him, allowing him to be in between her and the creature.

“I’ll go get the first aid kit.”

Nick offers and Harvey nods. They had gone through the kit just after Nick had moved in, filling it with labeled bottles and explaining to each other what each thing did. His father may have not hunted witches, but in between the mines and the woods, their first aid kit tended to be a lot more complex than most people’s.

He approaches the creature, that seemed to have calmed down as soon as they got in the backyard and sits on the porch. It shuffles until its shadowy torso is resting in his lap and its wounded side is facing up, the injury resting close to Harvey’s chest, dark blood staining his gardening clothes.

“Got it.”

Nick announces and drops the heavy leather bag on the floor, sitting by Harvey’s side. They both share a grimace at the dark blood.

Wordlessly, Nick offers him a bottle of yellowish green liquid, smelling strongly of alcohol and Comfrey. Harvey takes it and nods at the warlock, who, with steely eyes holds at the Thing’s shoulders and presses it on the floor.

Harvey pours the liquid over the wound.

The creature wails and thrashes. From the corner of his eye, he sees Nick’s somber expression as he holds it down. Sarah whimpers in sympathy. He grits his teeth and looks at the gaping wound.

It’s a knife wound. Years of tearfully watching his father hunt tell him that, and he can see the smallest glint of metal embedded in the flesh.

“Give me the pincers.”

He gestures vaguely at Nick’s direction and is surprised at how quickly he gets what he needs.

He plunges the pincers on the wound, and the thing lets out another wail, Sarah’s small hands come rest on his shoulders and on the nape of his neck curling in his hair in an offer of comfort. He pulls the shard of metal with a grimace, baring his teeth in anger at the offending object.

“Nick…”

He doesn’t even finish the sentence; the warlock is already handing him the bottle of yellow green liquid and a threaded needle.

They work in silence, save from the creatures pained noises and Sarah’s occasional intake of breath. Part of him wants to push her away from the gruesome scene, to shield her from the pain and blood, a bigger part of him, however, a more visceral and instinctual part of him needs her there, needs both Nick and her on his line of sigh as he cares for the creature in his lap.

He lets out a shuddering breath once it’s done.

There’s cooling sweat on his brow, and the creature on his lap finally relaxes. Sarah’s hands fall from his shoulders and she tiredly drags herself inside the house, face white. Nick looks somewhat pale himself, and Harvey offers him a weak smile that he returns. Their shoulders brush together in comradery.

The creature shifts in his lap, and a sickening sound of cracking bones cuts through the air. Harvey’s gaze falls from Nick’s face back to the thing.

“Hello.”

Says the man resting in his lap.

The man standing naked before them has ebony colored skin and bright golden eyes. Tattoos, equally golden run down beautifully down muscled arms, around wide shoulders. He’s a good head taller than Harvey, with high cheekbones and full lips, a shaved head, and a stitched wound on his left ribs.

The man introduces himself as Noite, and respectfully asks Harvey, if he may stay in his home.

He exchanges a quick look with Nick, who only shrugs as if he had already accepted his reality, and Harvey can’t quite deny the protectiveness he feels over the man. So he offers him the last empty room in his house to him.

They let him into the house, and Harvey offers him a few of his dad’s old clothes. He knows that they’ll have to get him something that actually fits, and mentally notes to give Sarah extra desert for essentially paying for all their expenses.

They eat pasta with canned sauce that evening. The whole commotion not allowing them to cook a proper dinner. Noite just stares at the food, and Sarah spreads sauce all over her cheeks. Nick offers him a napkin and Harvey allows his lips to twitch in a quick grateful smile before taking it and cleaning her face.

“Not to be rude.”

He says, eyeing Noite somewhat warily. Even with the warm feeling he got from him, the same he got from Sarah and Nick, he didn’t really trust him yet.

“What are you?”

Noite lifts his eyes.

“It’s no offense.”

He answers gently and Harvey rests his chin on his hands.

“I am an incarnation of the horned god.”

Nick chokes.

His eyes are wide in surprise, and Noite awkwardly pats his back in robotic motions. Harvey’s mouth opens in shock, recalling Sabrina’s lectures on paganism after the whole carnival fiasco.

“You are kidding.”

He accuses and Noite’s eyebrows furrow, he looks almost offended.

“I do not kid.”

He says, and Harvey knows down to his bones that he’s telling the truth. He looks at nick, who nods almost as if reading his thoughts.

He sighs, massages his temples. He dated the antichrist; he can be roommates with an incarnation of an ancient god.

“so the food is a no?”

He gestures at Noite’s full plate, attempting to keep his tone even. judging by Nick’s muffled wheeze, he’s failing.

“I prefer flesh. Any animal will do.”

Noite admits shyly, and Harvey is already planning the visit to the supermarket he’ll have to make.

“Raw?”

He assumes and Noite nods.

After that, dinner is pretty uneventful. Noite proves to be kind and patient towards Sarah, even if a bit confused by modern slang and their body language. Nick is his usual asshole self, even if it’s just aimed at him.

It turns out to be a pretty good night.

After that, he leaves Nick and Sarah on dish duty, and shows Noite the bathroom and his room. The man takes one look at the bed and zaps it away (to the attic, he assures Harvey), leaving only the mattress and a few sheets.

Harvey chooses not to question.

He takes one last look at Noited now dressed wound and wishes him a good night. Before he leaves the room, much to his surprise, Noite quickly presses their foreheads together in an affectionate nudge. Harvey couldn’t hide his smile even if he tried.

After that they fall into their nightly routine. Harvey showers quickly, but this time, he takes longer to scrap all the blood from under his fingernails. He helps Sarah wash her hair once he’s done and leaves her alone to finish her bath. Then, he helps her dry it and braid it for the night while Nick hogs the bathroom.

It’s almost surprising how easy it is for them to fall into domesticity.

Both him and Nick tuck Sarah into bed, brush their hands on her head and leave her to sleep. Noite quickly pokes his head out of his bedroom to do the forehead nudge thing to Nick, before shutting the door for the night.

“Nick?”

Harvey asks quietly, and the warlock turns to him, looking somehow both worried and annoyed.

“I need to show you something.”

He tells him and guides him to his room. Nick furrows his eyebrows.

“I’m flattered Farmboy, really, but I’m not really in the mood for…”

Harvey sputters and slaps his shoulders.

“Not that you idiot.”

Nick sighs in relief.

“It’s just this thing…”

He begins, lowering the waistband of his sweatpants, just enough to show the mark on his hipbone.

“Its appeared a few days ago.”

He finishes and Looks up at nick.

His face is pale, mouth open, eyes wide. He raises his hands and steps closer, fingertips almost touching the mark.

“Unholy shit Farmboy! You.. you’re a…”

Harvey flails his hands a bit.

“What?! Is it like a curse? Am I dying?!”

Nick shakes his head a bit franticly, looks at him in the eyes.

“No! No, nothing like that! You….!”

He steps closer, eyes wide, Harvey’s heart thumps quickly in his chest.

“You are a Mhysa.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! Please leave a comment, suggestions, feedback, criticism, it all is welcome and your comments make my day!  
> Lots and lots of love,  
> Yui.


	4. Harvey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So the last season of Sabrina came out and it was so bad.  
> I MEAN SURE, LET’S GLORIFY SUICIDE AND THROW AWAY ANY CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, WELL WRITTEN ARCH OR MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIP ON THE SHOW!  
> Anyways, this is now also a fix it fix, because even a 18 year old art student can write a better ending than the one in the series.  
> I hope you enjoy the chapter.

“I’m sorry, I’m a what now?”

He asks almost offended, and Nick, with still wide, awed eyes raises his hands in a placating gesture.

“A Mhysa, Farmboy.”

He repeats, as if that’s enough of an answer. Harvey raises his eyebrows and shakes his head slightly, to show his lack of understanding. Nick closes his eyes, takes a few breathes through his nose, and when he opens them again, he seems a bit more calm.

“Okay, bare with me, alright?”

He asks, and Harvey nods. It’s not like he has any other options.

“ Mhysa are like, the nice stepmoms of the magical world.”

Harvey furrows his eyebrows in confusion, crosses his arms.

“What?”

Nick flails a bit, mouth twisted in frustration.

“ Okay. Okay. Remember that book? Miss peregrine’s home for freaky...”

Harvey snaps his fingers a few times.

“ Yeah, yeah! Home for peculiar children!”

Nick nods.

“ That one, yes!”

Harvey nods slowly, along with him.

“So I’m like, Miss Peregrine?”

Nick nods enthusiastically.

“ Something like that.”

He walks around Harvey, and sits on his bed.

“ Mhysa are caretakers. They take in creatures and give them a home. They give the old gods a place to rest.”

Harvey turns to look at him.

“ But I’m human though.”

Nick crosses his legs, rests his chin in one of his hands.

“ Yeah. But you’re also a Mhysa.”

Once again, Harvey raises his eyebrows in confusion. He walks to the bed, sits next to Nick, leaving a comfortable space between them.

“ It’s like...”

Nick begins, and then snaps his fingers, eyes bright.

“ Like being an albino, you know? There are albino plants and animals and people. You are born a Mhysa, but it doesn’t change your species.”

Harvey looks at his hands. Remember the day he took Nick in, remembers the warm protectiveness on his chest.

He also remembers not being able to pick up the phone.

“Is that why I can’t bring my friends here?”

He asks in a small voice, and Nick presses his lips in sympathy.

“Mhysa’s first instinct is to hide their homes. If you don’t consider them part of your home, it would be very hard to bring them here. Even if rationally, you know it’s safe.”

Harvey lets out a shuddering breath, think of Roz’s worried and yet demanding text messages, of Theo’s missed calls.

“This sucks.”

He tells Nick, as if those small words could convey all the frustration he fells.

“Yeah, this sucks.”

Nick agrees easily.

He looks at his lap, almost ashamed, and Harvey’s stomach churns in worry.

“What’s wrong?”

Nick swallows, and his face scrunches up oddly.

“Did you only help me because of instinct?”

He rushes the words out, and Harvey’s mouth gapes open. His hands curls into fists, he feels frustrated, almost angry in Nick’s behalf that he would ever think like that.

“I took you in because you’re good.”

He tells him and the warlock scoffs. Harvey shakes his head, laughs in exasperation.

“You risked your life to help your crush’s mortal ex-boyfriend that you didn’t even know just because she asked.”

Nick lifts his eyes, brows furrowed.

“You sacrificed yourself to stop the apocalypse. You cared for and protected a leprechaun that you met in two days. You didn’t even blink when I took Noite in.”

Nick smiles a bit.

“You are good Nick. That’s why I took you in.”

He says with absolutely conviction. Nick’s shoulder sag in clear relief, and Harvey’s heart warms at how easily the warlock believed his words. The sudden rush of fondness has him leaning forward, closer to him, in a gut deep instinct.

He remembers Noite’s previous gesture of affection, and knowing it’s the right thing to do, nudges Nick’s forehead with his.

Nick freezes, and for a moment, panic and shame well up in Harvey’s chest, the warlock seems to notice, and, much to his relief, he relaxes, and presses his forehead back into his.

His whole body relaxes, his shoulders slump, and he repeats the motion once again, smiling as he pulls away. Nick looks flushed, oddly proud, like a student that got praised by his favorite teacher.

“Good night Mhysa.”

He tells him, before he leaves the room.

To Harvey’s surprise, living with Noite is incredibly easy.

The elder god is quiet and polite and seems to be happy enough helping them grow their garden and watches dutifully over Sarah like a guardian. He turned the mattress and sheets into a nest like structure, and likes to sunbathe on their porch in full horned monster form.

The one big issue however was food.

Noite had taken upon himself to hunt during the night, and as much Harvey appreciated the feeling, he would rather go to a butcher than having to hide little bunny carcasses from Sarah. He explained so to Noite and took a while to convince him to allow him and Nick to get him some food.

“He’s a hunter god.”

Nick explained quietly over a mug of coffee.

“It’s in his nature to hunt.”

So he made a quick lunch for them, ate quickly, and trusted Noite enough to leave him and Sarah alone.

“Why are you so nervous?”

Noite asks gently as Harvey puts on his coat before leaving and the human presses his lips hesitantly. He knows it’s stupid, but sometimes he thinks about the hunters that chased Sarah into his home. About the monsters and creatures illustrated on Sabrina’s books.

“No one would dare to attack your home.”

Noite tells him quietly, and Harvey raises his eyebrows. He doubts it, considering how dangerous Greendale could be.

Noite raises his eyebrows, as a teacher would, when confronted by a student who didn’t know about the subject they were teaching.

“Mhysa are sacred. No one would dare attack this home. It would put a target on their backs.”

He tells him gently. Rests his forehead on Harvey’s.

“Mhysa are the ones that offer their homes. Caretakers, healers. Mothers in a sense. All creatures have a debt to your kind. Every beast, spirit and old god would hunt down anyone who would dare hurt one of you, or a member of your home.”

He promises. Harvey doesn’t fully relax but feels a bit safer knowing that at least no creature would go after them. He nudges his forehead back into Noite’s.

“You keep her safe, okay?”

He says, and Noite nods determinedly.

“Hey Farmboy? You coming?”

Nick asks, leaning against the car. Harvey hurriedly kisses Sarah’s forehead before following him.

The thing about going to the supermarket in a small town is that you’re fated to meet someone you know there. Usually the biggest consequence on that is some boring small talk and a few lost minutes.

Meeting the friends you are actively trying to avoid while shopping with your ex-girlfriend’s ex boyfriend is a whole new thing.

He sees Theo and Robin before they see him, and with a split second of eye contact, he hurriedly pushes Nick into the next isle, out of their view. The warlock looks offended before spotting the duo. He furrows his eyebrows, which let Harvey know that he is understood, but not forgiven.

“Harvey!”

Theo’s voice snaps his attention back at the couple. They approach him, smiling, and he curls his lips into what he hopes is a convincing grin. He tries to ignore the anxiety. The gut deep need to get away, get back to Nick, get them out of the store and back into a safe space.

“Hey guys.”

He says gently. Twists his hands on the car handle.

“You’ve been gone for a while man. We were getting worried about you.”

Robin pries gently and he feels a small rush of affection for both of them. He kinda wishes he could bring them over. Introduce everyone. But the thought doesn’t settle well with him and leaves anxiety twisting deep into his stomach.

“Sorry guys. It’s just i have a lot of things to figure out.”

He says, and it’s true, mostly. Theo’s lips twist in sympathy and Robin looks vaguely confused.

“Yeah, I heard your dad’s gone. Are you okay? All alone at your place?”

Theo says gently and Harvey nods his head quickly.

“Yeah! Yeah, it’s fine. Just you know…”

In this moment, Nick chooses to walk hurriedly behind the couple to reach the next isle over. Harvey can’t help but follow him with his eyes. He sees the exact moment Theo notices his gaze and starts to turn around to look behind him.

“I’m cleaning out Tommy’s room!”

He exclaims, and Theo whips his head to look at him in surprise. It’s not exactly a lie per say. He did clean out Tommy’s room while he was avoiding his friends. Robin pins his gaze on him, almost accusingly, as if he has heard the lie in his voice.

“I know it’s stupid. I know that. But between dad being gone, and everything that has been happening...”

He says, and he’s not exactly lying here either.

“I don’t know... it seems that i just got the time to actually cope with everything now, you know?”

He pries gently, and okay, maybe he’s overplaying it a bit. He peeks at the space between his friends’ heads to see Nick id well hidden.

Theo looks guilty, and Robin looks almost pitying. Harvey suddenly feels bad for throwing all this emotional things as an excuse for his absence.

He knows that Theo knows what he saw in the mines as a kid. That confronting Satan had been a huge trigger for his trauma. How much the breakup, Tommy’s death, the pagan witch going after his father, all those things had weighted on him.

“A Mhysa’s first instinct is to hide their home.”

Nick had said that, and looking at his friends, people that he genuinely loves and trusts, he knows that if he’s able to, he’ll never allow them into his home.

He feels a bit sick.

“Yeah! No Harvey, it’s not stupid, we totally understand! Right Robin?”

Theo quickly reassures, and Robin nods. He, for some reason still feels a bit suspicious, and Harvey’s stomach sinks.

“We’re just worried about you, that’s all.”

Theo says kindly.

“Yeah. I know. I get it. I just need some time, that’s all.”

He mumbles, and Theo nods in understanding. He looks at Robin, then back at Harvey, and grimaces.

“Just. Look, I just remembered, and i really hate to throw that on you. But Roz really wants to see you.”

He presses his lips together.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh. She said Dr. Cerberus, this weekend. For lunch.”

Theo says quickly. Harvey nods.

“It’s okay that you need your space Harvey.”

Robin says suddenly. His face still a little puzzled.

“We get it.”

Theo beams, before apparently remembering that they are having a somber conversation and schooling his face into a serious expression again.

“Thanks guys.”

“Trouble with the mortal pals?”

Nick asks in his typical asshole-ish tone and Harvey sighs heavily.

“You could say that, yes.”

His shoulders slump, the the arch of Nick’s eyebrows soften.

“I’ve been avoiding them. Mainly because of Sarah, and Noite, and you. I just don’t feel ready to have them there. But...”

He trails off, and Nick tilts his chin as if prompting him to continue.

“I just need some time to heal from everything that has happened. You guys help with that.”

He finishes, and the corners of Nick’s mouth twitch.

“Of course we are. I’m a delight to be around.”

He says and Harvey scoffs.

Nick laughs. Gestures at the shopping cart files with different cuts of meat.

“Now. Shall we?”

They walk out of the store.

He didn’t realize how tense he had been during the trip until he got home.

The second he steps through the front door and sees Sarah sitting on the floor, reading a Harry Potter book, lying against Noite’s monstrous horned form, his shoulders relax, the tension bleeds from his muscles. He lets out a sigh.

“Nick! Harvey!”

Sarah yelps happily, and Noite lets out a grumbled coo that Harvey interprets as a “hello”. The little girl rushes to them and wraps her arms around their torsos, squeezing them together. His shoulder bumps agains Nick’s.

“Welcome home.”

He smiles and hugs her back for a bit before disentangling himself from the embrace.

“Hey honey! Hi!.”

He lowers himself to kiss her cheeks. Nick, by his side simply dumps the grocery bags on the floor, and beeline his way over to the couch.

“Hey!”

He calls out, and the warlock offers him his usual cocky grin in return.

“You left me to get the stuff to talk to your mortal friends Farmboy! You put the groceries away.”

Harvey sputters.

“I was distracting them so you wouldn’t have to talk to them!”

Nick’s grin only grows and Harvey huffs.

“I am so not respected in this household...”

He turns back to the groceries, only to see Noite, in human form, blessedly wearing pants, scooping the plastic bags up. He stares at him, blank faced, waiting for command.

“Give me some, we’ll put them in the table and sort them out.”

Noite nods, face suddenly serious and determined, and Harvey can’t fully hold the fond chuckle that escapes his lips. He guides the elder god into the kitchen. Gives him the things that go in the pantry, sorts food into cabinets and drawers and stuffs the fridge.

“How much meat do you need for a meal?”

He asks Noite, and the man looks at the freezer for a few seconds, before scooping almost half of the meat they bought and setting it on the table.

Damn.

He turns to look at Nick, who’s still on the couch, in hopes of sharing a desperate look. But the warlock is not looking at him. He’s curled with Sarah, with the first Harry Potter book in his lap, as she reads the second. He looks focused, if a bit confused, and the corners of Harvey’s mouth twitch.

“Okay, just eat the stuff you like the best and we’ll buy more of it the next time, okay?”

Noite lets out this weird grumble, purr noise of approval and looks at the meat.

Harvey turns around, takes bread and pops it in the toaster. Grabs some peanut butter and blackberry jam. He hums while he works.

He hears the swishing noise he had come to associate with Noite switching forms, and he hums, as he assembles some sandwiches for dinner.

He barely catches a glimpse of Noite’s massive jaw comping down on flesh before the blood splatters everywhere, it spreads on the floor, the table, a bit on the ceiling, and oh no, it’s getting on the carpets.

“Noite, no!”

He stills and lets out a soft crooning sound that he interprets as na apology. Nick looks like he can barely hold his laughter, and Sarah seems to be somewhere between disgusted and amused.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!”

He reassures when Noite let’s out another whimper, like a chastised child.

“Let’s just go eat on the porch okay? Get the blood on the grass.”

He nods, but still whimpers apologies at him. Harvey swallows a sigh.

“Okay, alright. Uuuhh...”

He looks around the bloody kitchen until his eyes fall on the sink full of dishes.

“You’re on dish duty tonight. As punishment, okay?”

He says, trying and failing to sound stern. Noite grumbles, apparently satisfied, and drags the bloody hunk of meat with his jaws outside.

“Come on!”

He tells Sarah, and guides her to follow him after Noite, carrying the plate of PB and Js. Nick starts to follow and Harvey stops him.

“You, get to clean the kitchen, since you didn’t put the groceries away with me.”

He orders, and Nick’s face twists in surprise and indignation.

Harvey laughs at it for a good while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HOPE YOU LIKED IT!  
> Please comment! It means the world to me!  
> Love, Yui

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! Please leave a comment, suggestions, feedback, criticism, it all is welcome and your comments make my day!  
> Lots and lots of love,  
> Yui.


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